From Fat – Broke and an Alcoholic to building a Kickass Training Facility

Everyone has dreams and goals. Anyone who knows me, knows I have 100’s and that’s being conservative.

I have worked hard all my life. Always working on the next thing. I have had some great successes and some near fatal catastrophes.

At the basis of all that I have done, the very part of me that’s makes me truly me is weightlifting and powerlifting.

I have owned a few gyms over the 25 + years. I liked them, but I never really LOVED them.

Up until I started Hostyle, I built businesses purely for the $$.

I never really dared build a business the way I truly wanted it to be.

The way I wanted to be.

Partly out of fear of failure – what if nobody likes it?

Mostly out of not really knowing what I really wanted – I didn’t really know enough about me at first.

I never took the time to ask those deep questions – what really makes me tick?

It wasn’t until I went from 5 Fitness Warehouse supplement stores down to 1 location back in 2009.

My business world had imploded.. I fucked shit up.. no matter what people or anyone say, I was responsible for all of it.

Not doing the things I knew deep down I should have done. I listened to the wrong people – only because they were saying what I wanted to hear at the time.

Anything to drown out the voice in my head that was shouting at me to make changes much sooner.

I knew then I wasn’t really being “me” anymore.

Rebuilding business

So I sat there in my Orleans store in 2009 and decided to really quiet my mind and listen to that voice.

I began to write things out, What did I want?

I knew I was going to stay in the Health and Fitness field. Question was how?

I was broke

My Business failed

I was fat – almost 400 lbs

I was an alcoholic

I was so fuckin broken and sad

I sketched out a list of things that I would have to do to create the life I truly desired.

It was long and really, really, really daunting!

Imagine Me – A fat guy running a fitness bootcamp.

Many people thought I was crazy, after all they just saw me fail at a huge level.

Some people thought I would pack up and move away.

Looking back I can see that’s where and when Hostyle was born.

I started it in that small 1500 sq ft store..

I knew if I focused on helping others, others like me that needed to rebuild themselves, I would have something special and unique.

They laughed at me in Berlin..

Some of my competitors told people that I was a joke, how was I gonna be able to build a bootcamp business when I was fat.

One of my current members who used to train at another gym, told me of the day that owner walked in and said to him that this “Curd Hos” guy is opening a bootcamp in Orleans and that I was gonna fail coz I was over weight.

Another personal trainer took one of my first videos and posted it up on his facebook account with a message that said… “who would ever get trained by this guy (me)”

see video below

WTF

I didn’t even know these guys.

I took the high road – but I never forgot that shit.. It became part of fuel, my drive to succeed.

It made me realize that if I’m going to do anything I needed to be 100% true to myself.

That’s the only way I would be able to shoulder the huge work load ahead of me.

I always gave myself goals that were challenging.

Once I decide to do something – get out of my way.

Maybe that’s what they were afraid of –

They saw that in me when I didn’t see it at the time

fuck those guys….

We grew, we stumbled, I kept going.

a little over 3 years ago I moved into the location I’m in now. A former gym 5500 sq feet.

We grew, we stumbled, I kept going

2 years ago I took over the wine making place growing our space to 7500.